Amid layoffs IBM creates partnership at Nanocollege

IBM slashed nearly 700 jobs in the lower Hudson Valley earlier this week, but the layoffs come as the company is expected to create jobs at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering.

IBM employees located in Albany were not affected by the sweeping layoffs. Nanocollege spokesman Steve Janack said that it was “in fact, quite the opposite.” The college houses several hundred IBMers.

IBM announced a new partnership with United Microelectronics Corporation (the third-largest chip manufacturer behind TSMC and GlobalFoundries) on Thursday. UMC did not have a significant presence in Albany prior to this announcement.

The partnership is expected to bring several hundred jobs to the region at the Nanocollege. UMC is transferring its engineering team to Albany to work with IBM on 10nm technology and development.

“With UMC joining the IBM Alliance there is the potential of hundreds of new jobs at CNSE,” Janack said. “The advanced computer chip technology will happen in NFX, and part of that cleanroom is dedicated to 450mm technology.”

A spokesman for IBM said the research performed at the Nanocollege focuses on longer term, next-generation technology while their Hudson Valley sites produce current-generation technology.

“The G450 consortium is exploring new atomic-scale materials and manufacturing techniques that will be required to build future semiconductors,” IBM said in an email on Friday. “The work is seen as vital to the progress of the semiconductor industry.”

IBM’s partnership with UMC was announced the day after employees in Dutchess County discovered that they were losing their jobs.

IBM layoffs included 369 employees in East Fishkill and 328 in Poughkeepsie. Job cuts in Westchester County were not reported.

The Communication Workers of America, which is partnered with the IBM employee group Alliance@IBM, said the companywide layoffs reached 2,286 employees.

IBM outlined in its 2013 first-quarter report that the company’s total revenues dropped five percent to $23.4 billion compared to the same time in 2012. The company said it was unable to close a number of software and mainframe transactions, which led to the decline.

Alliance@IBM reported that job cuts within the company hit a majority of employees in software marketing, semiconductor research and storage systems development.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo directed the Nanocollege to offer job fairs in Albany, Rochester and Westchester County in an effort to provide job opportunities for the displaced IBM workers.

Cuomo also directed the college to develop training programs to boost the skills of the former IBM employees for them to qualify for more high-tech jobs.

Jim McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias Research, said he questions why IBM is a key player in the semiconductor industry when its main focus is in software services and systems.

McGregor said he believes GlobalFoundries, the $9 billion semiconductor plant located in Malta, NY, could have a larger role in the industry because of their location and investment.

“You have GlobalFoundries, which has a huge investment in the region, and would likely have a larger role in that alliance in the industry,” he said. “I can’t see IBM being the alliance leader forever. Even if and when we do make a transition to 450mm wafers, IBM is not going to be a big purchaser of the equipment because they only have one fab.”

The G450C at the Nanocollege’s new NanoFab Xtension houses IBM, Intel, GlobalFoundries, Samsung and TSMC. The companies are working to transition from 300mm to 450mm wafers and create the next-generation of computer chips.

The wafers refer to the silicon discs on which computer chips are etched. The current industry standard, 300mm is roughly 12-inches in diameter. The 450mm wafer is roughly 18-inches in diameter and is potentially capable of producing double the number of chips.

When the G450C was announced in 2011, the investment promised the addition of 950 jobs at IBM facilities in Yorktown Heights and East Fishkill. IBM invested a major share at the $4.4 billion site.